Genetically engineered cell line for detecting infectious herpes simplex virus and method therefore

ABSTRACT

A diagnostic assay for detecting the presence of an infectious herpes virus in a specimen and a genetically engineered cell line for use in such assay are disclosed. The cell line used in the assay expresses a reporter gene only if infectious herpes virus is present in the specimen. The assay involves inoculating a DNA-transfected cell line with a specimen suspected of containing a herpes virus, allowing a sufficient period of time for the herpes virus infectious cycle to proceed, and detecting and quantifying the number of herpes virus-infected cells to determine the number of infectious herpes virus virions in the specimen. The cell line is a DNA-transfected cell line susceptible to infection by a herpes virus which is stably transformed with a chimeric gene comprising a herpes virus inducible promoter and a gene coding for an enzyme, the expression of the enzyme being dependent upon and quantitatively proportional to the presence of herpes virus. A kit for such assay is also provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention generally relates to the field of diagnostic virology and, more particularly, to a method for detecting infectious herpes virus in a specimen and a cell line for use therefor.

2. Description of the Related Art

Herpesviruses have become increasingly important causes of human morbidity and mortality. Whitley, R. J., Virology (1990) New York, Raven Press. Herpes simplex viruses Type 1 and 2 (hereinafter referred to collectively as HSV), in particular, infect a large number of individuals each year. Primary infection of immunocompetent patients with HSV usually leads to a mucocutaneous syndrome such as herpes labialis or herpes genitalis, the latter being one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases today. Infection with HSV can also cause more serious infections, the most serious of which are sight-threatening keratitis and life-threatening encephalitis. Moreover, HSV related disease in immunocompromised individuals such as newborns, leukemia patients, organ transplant recipients and AIDS patients has become an increasingly prevalent and difficult problem.

Significant advances have been made in the treatment of HSV infections in the past decade. These advances in antiviral therapy have expanded the role of the diagnostic virology laboratory and have identified the need for more sensitive, accurate and rapid diagnostic tests to assist in the early diagnosis of HSV infections.

Various tests are presently available for the diagnosis of HSV infections. Most involve the detection of viral antigens or intact infectious virus. Antigen detection assays offer the advantage of rapidity and specificity, but can lack the necessary sensitivity. Kowalski, R. P. and Gordon, Y. J., Ophthal. (1989) 96:1583-1586. The most reliable test to detect infectious herpes virus involves inoculation of specimens onto tissue culture cells followed by detection of infectious virus by microscopically observing a characteristic cytopathic effect. Although HSV is a relatively easy virus to culture as it replicates on a wide variety of continuous cell lines, virus propagation in tissue culture can be slow and expensive. Recently, improved techniques have been developed for the detection of viruses from clinical specimens. The shell vial technique, for instance, has greatly increased the sensitivity and the rapidity of HSV detection. When this method is combined with antigen detection by immunohistochemistry, HSV can be positively identified within 24 hours in the majority of cases. Gleaves et al., J. Clin. Micro. (1985) 21:29-32; Ziegler et al., J. Clin. Micro. (1985) 26:2013-2017. While this type of assay is preferred in diagnostic virology applications, it is labor intensive and a significant number of specimens are not identified as positive until after 48 hours. Another recent technological advance, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, presents a promising tool for the detection of HSV particularly in cerebrospinal fluid specimens, but this technology detects viral nucleic acid and not infectious virus. Puchhammer-Stockl, et al., J. Med. Virol. (1990) 32:77-82. The detection of infectious virus is often preferred because it definitively indicates that there is an ongoing viral infection with active viral replication. PCR detection of viral nucleic acid may only be indicative of the presence of a remnant of a past infection or the presence of a latent infection.

Previous scientific studies involving herpes viruses have used susceptible cell lines transfected with a chimeric DNA construct containing a marker gene in transient assays to study various aspects of the virus such as the regulation of gene expression during viral replication. Flanagan W. M. and Wagner, E. K., Virus Genes 1:1:61-71 (1987). These studies have not, however, described a DNA construct stably integrated into the chromosome of a stable cultured cell line which is suitable for the diagnostic detection and quantification of a herpes virus in a specimen with the requisite sensitivity and specificity for a clinical diagnostic assay.

Recently, a method for detecting infectious HIV in a specimen has been disclosed that utilizes a genetically engineered cell line containing a chimeric gene having the E. coli LacZ gene associated with the HIV-1 LTR promoter. Rocancourt, et al., J. Virol. (1990) 64:2660-2668; Kimpton, J. and Emerman, M., J. Virol. (1992) 66:4:2232-2239. Although these cell lines may be useful for detecting HIV in a specimen, they are not suitable for diagnostic virology assays because of their lack of specificity. It is well-known that the HIV-1 LTR promoter used in the DNA construct of these studies to cause expression of the reporter gene is not specific for HIV and that other viruses cause expression of the reporter gene if present in the specimen. In particular, the presence of HSV or cytomegalovirus in the specimen causes activation of the LTR promoter and subsequent expression of the reporter gene even in the absence of HIV in a specimen. Mosca, J. D., et al., Nature (1987) 325:67-70; Mosca, J. D., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (1987) 84:7408-7412; Popik and Pitha, Proc. Natl. Acado Sci. (1981) 88:9572-9577. If such a cell line were used in a diagnostic assay, it could lead to the erroneous diagnosis of the presence of HIV in a specimen when in fact the specimen contained a different virus. Thus, the lack of specificity in cell lines prepared to detect HIV in a specimen prevents their use in a diagnostic assay which requires specificity.

A need exists, therefore, for a method for detecting a herpes virus in a specimen that provides rapid detection in a cost efficient manner, while also providing the sensitivity and specificity necessary for a diagnostic assay.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, there is provided a novel assay for detecting the presence of an infectious herpesvirus in a specimen. The assay provides an enzymatic means for identifying the presence of a herpesvirus that can be visually observed or easily detected. The assay involves inoculating a DNA-transfected cell line with a specimen suspected of containing a herpes virus, allowing a sufficient period of time for the herpes virus infectious cycle to proceed, and detecting and quantifying the number of herpes virus-infected cells to determine the number of infectious herpes virus virions in the specimen. The cell line used in the assay is genetically engineered to express a reporter gene only if infectious herpes virus is present in the specimen. The assay also reliably quantifies the number of herpesvirus in a specimen and is so sensitive that it is capable of detecting the presence of a single virion in a specimen.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a novel cell line for use in the assay. The cell line is a DNA-transfected cell line susceptible to infection by a herpes virus which is stably transformed with a chimeric gene comprising a herpes virus inducible promoter and a gene coding for an enzyme, the expression of the enzyme being dependent upon and quantitatively proportional to the presence of herpes virus. In one preferred embodiment, the cell line is a stable baby hamster kidney cell line the genome of which has been engineered to contain the E. coli LacZ gene behind (3' to) an inducible HSV promoter, the HSV-1 ICP6 promoter. In a second preferred embodiment, the LacZ gene is replaced with the gene encoding firefly luciferase.

In a further embodiment, the invention provides a kit for assaying the presence of an infectious herpesvirus in a specimen. The kit includes a supply of DNA transfected cells susceptible to infection by the desired herpesvirus being assayed for and engineered to contain a reporter gene, which codes for an enzyme that can be easily detected, behind an inducible herpes virus promoter, and the reagents necessary to detect expression of the enzyme.

Among the several advantages of the present invention may be noted the provision of a rapid and sensitive assay for detecting the presence of an infectious herpesvirus in a clinical specimen that is suitable as a diagnostic assay; the provision of such an assay that provides reliable results within 12 hours; the provision of such an assay that is adaptable for use as an automated assay; the provision of such an assay that is highly specific for a particular herpesvirus; the provision of such an assay that is capable of detecting a single infectious virion in a specimen; and the provision of a cell line for use in such assay that expresses a reporter gene only after infection with a herpesvirus and not after infection by other viruses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of pYBICP6LacZ.

FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of β-galactosidase activity in Herpes Simplex Virus-infected BHKICP6LacZ cells at various timepoints after infection as measured by a colorimetric assay on cell lysates.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of pYLICP6ffLucA.

FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of luciferase activity in Herpes Simplex Virus-infected BHKICP6LucA6 cells at various timepoints after infection as measured by luminometry on cell lysates.

FIG. 5 illustrates the average luciferase activity as a measure of the amount of virus added to an assay.

FIG. 6 illustrates the individual data points of luciferase activity used to obtain the average luciferase activity values in FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the present invention, a method for detecting infectious herpes virus in a specimen and a genetically engineered cell line for use in such method are provided. The method involves, in one significant respect, an enzymatic assay by which the presence of herpes virus in a specimen can be detected and quantified in a manner suitable for use as a diagnostic assay. The method employs a genetically engineered cell line containing a stably integrated chimeric gene that permits the detection of the presence of herpes virus in a specimen. In general, the chimeric gene comprises a transcriptional initiation region from a herpes virus and a structural gene encoding an enzyme operably coupled thereto such that the transcriptional initiation region regulates the expression of the gene. After inoculation with a herpes virus, the cell expresses detectable levels of the enzyme.

The genetic elements of the chimeric gene operate as a functional genetic unit to express the enzyme under the control of the transcriptional initiation region, or promoter. The promoter used in the chimeric gene is one that is capable of causing the expression of the structural gene only in the presence of an infectious herpes virus. Thus, the enzyme is expressed only if an infectious herpes virus is present in the specimen being analyzed. As used herein, the term infectious herpes virus denotes herpes virus virions that are capable of entering cells and initiating a virus replication cycle, whether or not this leads to new virus production..

The promoter is preferably an inducible or transactivatable promoter isolated from the herpes virus genome. An inducible or transactivatable promoter as used herein is a transcriptional initiation region of DNA that initiates transcription of a DNA sequence operably coupled thereto in response to a transactivating substance produced by the virus. Any inducible or transactivatable promoter from a herpes virus desired to be detected by the assay may be used in connection with the chimeric gene of this invention. In particular, β-promoters from herpes viruses are preferred for use as the promoter in this invention because of their ability to be transactivated. Examples of such promoters from HSV include the promoters from the UL42, UL29 and UL39 genes. A particularly useful β-promoter is that isolated from Herpes simplex virus type 1 gene UL39, which codes for ICP6, (hereinafter referred to as the ICP6 promoter or ICP6). The ICP6 promoter is strongly transactivated by the HSV virion-associated transactivator protein VP16 and expression can typically be detected within 3-6 hours after infection by HSV. Moreover, the ICP 6 promoter does not cause constitutive expression in uninfected cells, and only causes expression of a gene operably coupled thereto in response to infection by a herpes virus. This feature of the ICP6 promoter is particularly useful as it provides the specificity required of a useful diagnostic assay. In general, promoters useful in this invention should not cause constitutive expression in cells that have not been infected by the particular herpes virus from which the promoter was obtained.

The chimeric gene also includes a structural gene which codes for an enzyme which serves as the reporter or marker gene for the visual detection of a herpes virus in a specimen. The enzyme is preferably one that can easily be assayed for or detected in a cell. One enzyme that has proved to be particularly useful for this purpose is β-galactosidase. Preferably, a bacterial β-galactosidase is used, and most preferably the β-galactosidase from E. coli that is encoded by the LacZ gene. β-galactosidase is preferred because of its well-characterized nature and the existence of a variety of methods to detect its presence. Other enzymes which would be useful as the reporter gene in the chimeric gene of this invention generally include hydrolases or oxidoreductases and, in particular, such enzymes as β-glucosidase, β-glucuronidase, β-hexosaminidase, luciferase, phospholipase, phosphatase, etc. The chimeric gene also includes a termination signal which may be integral with and native to the structural gene or may be obtained from a heterologous source.

A gene encoding β-galactosidase is one preferred reporter gene for use in this invention because of the numerous methods known to detect its expression and the relative sensitivity of such methods. Among these methods include histochemical assays involving a chromogenic or fluorogenic substrate which permits detection of β-galactosidase activity by a change in the color of the cell. The change in color can be detected macroscopically or microscopically. For example, methods are known which use a chromogenic substrate such as 5-bromo-4-chloro indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside, which turns the cells blue in the presence of β-galactosidase, or a fluorogenic substrate such as fluorescein di-β-D-galactopyranoside (FDG), 3-carboxyumbelliferyl-β-D-galactopyranoside or 5-dodecanoylaminofluorescein di-β-D-galactopyranoside (C₁₂ FDG) which stains the cells intensely green, to detect β-galactosidase activity. Automated colorimetric assays are also available for detection of β-galactosidase activity. One such assay uses ONPG O-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside as the substrate for β-galactosidase activity in a cell lysate and the enzyme activity is detected by spectrophotometry. An automated fluorescence assay is also known.

The detection of β-galactosidase by a fluorescence microscopy method, as further described in Example 9, in the assay of the present invention is advantageous for a variety of reasons. FDG is relatively impermeable to cells and previously described protocols for delivery of FDG into cells involve osmotic shock in addition to careful temperature regulation and the use of competitive and noncompetitive inhibitors of β-galactosidase. These and other complications are necessary for quantitative enzymatic measurements. To detect HSV-infected cells by the method of this invention, however, all that is required is that sufficient FDG enter the cells for the virus-induced B-galactosidase to cleave sufficient FDG to release sufficient fluorescein to allow the cells to be brightly fluorescent. It may be that HSV-infected cells are more permeable to FDG than uninfected cells. In addition, the fact that BHK cells have little in the way of endogenous β-galactosidase activity or autofluorescence, and the fact that no constitutive β-galactosidase activity has been observed in cells of the present invention, results in virtually no background fluorescence in uninfected cells. The combination of all these factors contribute to the high signal to noise ratio (i.e. easy visual discrimination between infected and uninfected cells) despite a simple method to deliver the FDG to the cells.

Previously described procedures to detect β-galactosidase positive cells using fluorogenic substrates involved cooling the cells below the membrane freezing point after exposure to the fluorogenic substrate to prevent fluorescein from diffusing out of the cells. This adds a complication to the fluorescence microscopy (i.e. it would require a cooling chamber on the microscope) which was found not to be necessary when this means for detection was used with the method of this invention. The cells can be held at ambient temperatures so long as the cells are observed within 15 minutes from the time of exposure to the FDG without loss of sensitivity.

Another particularly useful reporter gene for use in the method and cell line of this invention is the gene encoding firefly luciferase. The expression of luciferase may be detected by known luminometric methods using luciferin as the enzyme substrate. The use of luciferase as the reporter gene provides an enzymatic assay that is more sensitive than the colorimetric or fluorometric β-galactosidase assay and is also more amenable to the development of an automated assay which can detect a single infectious virus.

Once the desired chimeric gene has been prepared, it is preferably inserted into a plasmid which is then transfected into the desired cell line by standard and routine methods known to those skilled in the art. Maniatis, T., et al., Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1990). The cell line chosen is one that is susceptible to infection by the herpes virus to be detected and is transfected in a manner that stably integrates the chimeric gene into a chromosome of the cell. Examples of suitable susceptible cell lines for herpes viruses include rabbit skin fibroblasts, baby hamster kidney cells, African green monkey cells and the like. One preferred cell line for the detection of HSV in a sample comprises baby hamster kidney cells into whose genome has been stably integrated a chimeric gene comprising the E. coli LacZ gene behind the HSV-1 ICP6 promoter, and, in particular, a cell line identified as BHKICP6LacZ and clones thereof. Another preferred cell line for the detection of HSV in a specimen comprises baby hamster kidney cells into whose genome has been stably integrated a chimeric gene comprising the firefly luciferase gene behind the HSV-1 ICP6 promoter, and, in particular, a cell line identified as BHKICP6LucA6 and clones thereof.

In order to detect the presence of an infectious herpes virus in a specimen, a cell line that has been transfected with a chimeric gene as described above is inoculated with the specimen by placing an aliquot of each in a suitable standard culture medium in standard culture vessels. The specimen may be any material which can be placed into a fluid or fluid from a person, animal or the environment such as blood, semen, nasopharyngeal swabs, cerebrospinal fluids and the like. The cell line and the specimen are cultured for a sufficient period of time for the herpes virus infectious cycle to proceed. Typically, this takes between three and twelve hours and usually between three and six hours. If an infectious herpes virus is present in the specimen, it will produce the transactivator necessary to induce the promoter and cause the expression of the marker gene which can then be detected and quantified by assaying for the presence of the reporter gene product. This method enables one to determine whether a certain specimen contains an infectious herpes virus.

The method and cell line of this invention may be used to detect infectious herpesviruses such as Epstein-Barr Virus, Cytomegalovirus, Varicella-Zoster Virus, and the Herpes Simplex Viruses. In particular, this invention is useful for the detection of infectious HSV in a clinical specimen.

The following examples are offered by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

EXAMPLE 1

This example illustrates the preparation of a susceptible cell line genetically engineered to enable it to detect infectious herpes simplex virus.

Baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells were obtained from C. Hahn and C. Rice (Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.). The cells were propagated in MEM medium (Gibco-BRL, Gaithesburg, Md.) supplemented with 7% fetal calf serum (Gibco). These cells were co-transfected with pYBICP6LacZ and pMAMneo by the liposomal transfection protocol as described in Maniatis, T., et al. (1990) using reagents obtained from Gibco-BRL. The essential features of plasmid pYBICP6LacZ are shown in FIG. 1. This plasmid was prepared by isolating a BamHI fragment from pD6p, obtained from Dr. Sandra Weller (Univ. of Conn.), which contains the ICP6-LacZ fusion cassette as described in Goldstein and Weller, J. Virol. 62:196-205 (1988), and subcloning this fragment into the BamHI site of the vector pUC8. Plasmid pMAMneo contains the SV40 early promoterneomycin resistance gene cassette and was purchased commercially from Clontec, Palo Alto, Calif.

The transfected cells were placed in a culture medium containing G418 (geneticin, Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) and G418 resistant colonies were selected. Several cell lines were identified as being resistant to G418 and were tested for β-galactosidase activity. One such cell line, BHKICP6LacZ-5, displayed no detectable β-galactosidase activity after mock infection and pronounced activity following infection with HSV. This cell line was selected for further studies.

EXAMPLE 2

This example illustrates the ability of the cell line of this invention to detect infectious herpes simplex virus in a specimen.

Cells from cell line BHKICP6LacZ as described in Example 1 were obtained and infected with HSV-1 at various multiplicities of infection (m.o.i.) in standard tissue culture medium. The cells and the virus were allowed to remain in culture for 12 hours after which the cells were assayed for β-galactosidase activity by the histochemical staining method. The cells were washed three times in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) pH 7.2 and fixed in a solution of 2% formaldehyde and 0.4% glutaraldehyde in PBS for 5 minutes at 4° C. The cells were then washed twice in PBS and incubated for 2 hours at room temperature in the histochemical staining solution. The solution comprises 1 mg/ml X-GAL (5-bromo-4-chloro-3 indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside), 4 mM potassium ferricyanide, 4 mM potassium ferrocyanide, 2 mM MgCL₂ in PBS. The staining solution was made up fresh before use with concentrated stock solutions of each reagent. The X-GAL stock solution was 40 mg/ml in N, N-dimethylformamide. The reaction was stopped by washing the cells with PBS. The cells were analyzed directly and by light microscopy and stored in PBS at room temperature.

At the higher m.o.i., the blue stain was evident macroscopically and as the m.o.i. decreased, microscopic examination of the cells which did not appear to stain blue by direct inspection revealed individual blue cells among a predominance of unstained cells. Microscopic analysis of the infected cells revealed blue stained cells. Control cells subject to no infection and mock infection exhibited no blue staining of the cells.

EXAMPLE 3

This example illustrates the ability of the cell line and assay of this invention to quantitate the number of infectious herpes simplex virus in a specimen.

Herpes simplex virus is routinely quantified by determining the titre of infectious virions as plaque forming units (pfu) per milliliter (ml). A solution known to contain herpes simplex virus, but of unknown amount, was submitted to a standard quantitative plaque assay. An aliquot (0.5 ml) of the solution was placed into a tube with 4.5 ml of culture medium constituting a 10-fold dilution. This diluted sample was then diluted 10-fold in like manner serially until a 10,000,000 dilution was achieved in the final tube. We how had tubes with 10⁻¹ through 10⁻⁷ the concentration of virus of the original solution. An aliquot (0.5 ml) of the highest three dilutions (10⁻⁵, 10⁻⁶, 10⁻⁷) was added to a monolayer of BHK cells in 10 cm² wells. This was done in duplicate. After allowing the virus to absorb to the cells for one hour, the media was aspirated from the well and replaced with media containing neutralizing antibody to herpes simples virus (to restrict spread of the virus to a focal area of the monolayer). After 48-72 hours circular areas of dead cells (plaques) appeared in the monolayer. The number of plaques in each well was counted. Wells with too many plaques (>100) or too few plaques (<10) were not counted. In one assay, 21 plaques were seen on one of the duplicate wells using the 10⁻⁷ dilution and 17 plaques on the other duplicate. The titre of the starting solution was then calculated using the following formula: ##EQU1##

Therefore in the above case the average # of plaques =17+21/2=19. The dilution was 10⁻⁷. The volume added was 0.5 ml. ##EQU2##

The same exact dilutions were also inoculated onto BKHICP6LacZ-5 cells in exactly the same manner except that after 16 hours the cells were fixed and histochemically stained for β-galactosidase activity (16 hours is less than growth cycle of herpes simplex virus and thus too short a time period for a plaque to form). Blue cells were then counted in each well with an inverted light microscope. In duplicate wells derived from the 10⁻⁷ dilution, 20 and 23 blue cells were seen. A blue cell is referred to as a blue forming unit (bfu) and the number of bfu per ml was calculated using the same formula as above: ##EQU3##

In summary, a virus containing solution was diluted and the identical dilutions were submitted to the standard assay to quantitate infectious herpes simplex virus and to the histochemical assay using BHKICP6LacZ cells and the calculated number of plaque forming units per ml closely approximated the number of bfu per ml. The titres (3.8×10⁸ pfu/ml and 4.3×10⁸ bfu/ml) are essentially equivalent from a virologic point of view given the intrinsic variability of a quantitative plaque assay. Therefore as a pfu is used as an indicator of a single infectious virus, a bfu also can also be used as an indicator of a single infectious virus.

EXAMPLE 4

This example illustrates the ability of the assay of this invention to rapidly detect HSV-1 in a specimen.

BHKICP6LacZ cells as described in Example 1 were infected with HSV-1 at a m.o.i. of 10 and 0.1 as previously described in Example 2. At various times after the cells were infected, cells were removed, lysed and assayed for β-galactosidase activity by a colorimetric assay. The colorimetric assay was performed on whole cell lysates using 0-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG, Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) as the substrate in a standard colorimetric β-galactosidase assay as described in Maniatis, et al., Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1990). Protein determinations of the lysates were performed using a commercially available kit based on the Bradford method (Bio-Rad, Richmond, Calif.). Enzyme activity was detected approximately four hours after infection and peaked at six hours after infection for the cells infected at a high m.o.i. FIG. 2 presents a graphical representation of the detection of β-galactosidase activity vs. time by this assay.

As a comparison, cells subject to the same method of infection were assayed by the histochemical staining method as described in Example 2. A few blue staining cells could be seen at approximately three hours after infection and greater than and 90% of the cells stained blue after six hours for the cells infected with a high m.o.i. The cells infected with a low m.o.i. did not develop blue staining cells until approximately six hours after infection.

EXAMPLE 5

This example illustrates the specificity of the cell line and method of this invention to detect only the presence of HSV in a specimen.

Monolayers of BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells were inoculated, separately, with specimens known to contain other viruses and assayed histochemically for β-galactosidase activity. Infection of BHKICP6LacZ cells with four different viruses resulted in no β-galactosidase expressing cells.

Three virus specimens were obtained from the Diagnostic Virology laboratory at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Separate specimens were obtained which contained human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), varicella zoster virus (VZV) and adenovirus type 5. Each of the specimens contained an amount of virus derived from a 4+ cytopathic effect (a semiquantitative measure of the amount of virus in a sample whereby 1+ equals the least amount and 4+ the highest amount). In addition, a laboratory strain of Sindbis virus (a Togavirus) with a titre of 10⁷ pfu/ml was grown in the laboratory. A 0.5 ml aliquot of each of these viruses was separately inoculated onto monolayers of 2.0×10⁶ BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells. (This amount of each virus when inoculated onto the cell line normally used to grow these viruses resulted in a 4+ cytopathic effect characteristic of each virus). At 24 hours after infection with each of these viruses the BHKICP6LacZ cells were fixed and histochemically stained for β-galactosidase activity. BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells infected with none of the four viruses exhibited any histochemical evidence for β-galactosidase activity i.e. no blue cells were seen microscopically. HSV type 2 infection of BHKICP6LacZ cells resulted in galactosidase activity in a manner indistinguishable from HSV type 1. Thus this method is specific for HSV-1 and HSV-2 (collectively HSV).

EXAMPLE 6

This example illustrates the use of the cell line and assay of this invention for analyzing clinical specimens for the presence of HSV.

A prospective study was done in a diagnostic virology laboratory. During the period between Sep. 9, 1991 and Nov. 28, 1991 all specimens the laboratory received for the purpose of detecting HSV were submitted to both the standard cytopathic effect (CPE) assay and the method of this invention. A total of 96 specimens were processed from 94 patients. Specimens were derived from multiple body sites (swabs of cervical, skin, mouth lesions, bronchoalveolar lavage specimens, etc.) All specimens were received in a standard physiologic transport medium.

For the standard CPE assay, a 0.2 ml aliquot of each specimen was inoculated into a roller tube containing a monolayer of a tissue culture cell line (rabbit skin fibroblasts) obtained commercially and commonly used to grow HSV. After one hour on a roller apparatus at 37° C., fresh tissue culture medium (minimal essential medium+5% calf serum) was added and the cells were returned to the roller apparatus and the 37° C. incubator. The following day, and at 12 hour intervals for up to 7 days, the cells were examined microscopically, by a trained diagnostic virologytechnician using an inverted light microscope, for evidence of CPE characteristic of HSV. The results of this analysis were part of the laboratory's normal diagnostic function and were reported to the physician who ordered the test.

At the same time that the CPE assay was set up another assay using the method of this invention was set up in parallel. A 0.2 ml aliquot of each specimen was also inoculated onto BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells which were being cultured on the exact same type of roller tube used for the commercially purchased cells mentioned above. The cells were processed in the same manner except that on the day after inoculation (16-24 hours depending on when the time of day the specimen was received by the laboratory and done at the convenience of the technician) the cells were fixed and histochemically stained for β-galactosidase activity. The cells were then examined under a light microscope and scored for the presence of blue cells. The results are shown in Table I below.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         # Specimens      CPE    β-gal. Stain                                      ______________________________________                                         31               +      +                                                      62               -      -                                                       0               +      -                                                       3               -      +                                                      ______________________________________                                    

As shown by the data in Table 1, all 31 specimens that contained HSV as evidenced by the positive CPE assay were positive in the β-galactosidase staining assay i.e. there were no false negatives. It should be noted that the β-galactosidase staining was done "blindly" i.e. without knowledge of the CPE results. In fact, 15 of the 31 CPE positive specimens did not become positive until day 2 or more. Therefore at the time of the histochemical staining these 15 CPE positives were still read as negative. As can be seen in Table 1, 3 specimens that were read as positive by the technician for β-galactosidase staining were negative by CPE. Two of these were from the same patient and were from an oral source. Examination of the histochemically stained cells revealed that the blue cells were not, in fact, fibroblasts (as are BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells) but obviously epithelial cells. These cells likely came from the patients mouth and the cells likely were colonized with a bacteria expressing β-galactosidase. Consistent with this notion, we repeated the assay on these specimens and noted that these cells stained blue at time zero before HSV would have time to induce β-galactosidase activity. The third specimen that was CPE-negative, β-galactosidase positive displayed a single blue cell whereas all the other 31 positives had many blue cells. This false negative result remains unexplained. No virus (HSV or otherwise) was cultured from this specimen. Finally two of the CPE-negative, β-galactosidase negative specimens grew varicella zoster virus (VZV), confirming our laboratory observation of the specificity of the method of this invention for HSV.

In summary, the method of this invention, when compared to the standard laboratory method to detect HSV on clinical specimens, showed excellent (100%) sensitivity (31/31). It was also more rapid than the standard method in that all 31 positives were detected at 24 hours or less compared to 16 of 31 CPE positives at 24 hours and the remaining 15 not being noted to be positive until 48 or 72 hours.

EXAMPLE 7

This example demonstrates the ability of the firefly luciferase gene to be used as a reporter gene to detect HSV. The rationale for using luciferase is that the enzymatic measurement of luciferase on cell lysates is far more sensitive than β-galactosidase.

A cell line was derived from BHK cells using the method described in Example 1. BHK cells were stably transformed with pMAMneo and pYLICP6ffLucA (which contains a ICP6-firefly luciferase chimeric gene), a map of which is shown in FIG. 3, using G418 selection. pYLICP6ffLucA was prepared by inserting a 1.9 kb fragment from pTS/T7Luc (Clontec, Palo Alto, Calif.) which contains the luciferase gene into the BamHI site of pDCICP6-1B which has a BamHI site at the 3' end of the ICP6 promoter. The ICP6:luciferase chimeric gene is not expressed as a fusion protein. One such stably transformed cell line was named BHKICP6LucA6.

BHKICP6LucA6 cells were grown as monolayers on 24 well tissue dishes (2.5-5.0×10⁵ cells per well). The cells were then infected with 10³ pfu of HSV per well. At various times after infection the cells were lysed and assayed for luciferase activity. The procedure was as follows. The media (MEM+10% fetal calf serum) was aspirated, the cells were washed 2× with 1 ml of phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.4, and then 0.1 ml of lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-MES pH 7.8, 1 mM DTT, 1% Triton X-100) was added. The dish was placed on a rotating shaker for 10 minutes at ambient temperature. 0.05 ml of each cell lysate was then assayed for luciferase activity in the following protocol. 0.150 ml of luciferase reaction buffer (final reaction concentrations: 50 mM Tris-MES, pH 7.8, 10 mM magnesium acetate, 2 mM ATP) as added to a 12×75 mm disposable glass tube. 0.05 ml of the cell lysate was added and mixed gently. The tube was placed in a luminometer which automatically injects 0.1 ml of 1 mM luciferin and then measures the release of photons over a 10 second period of time. A number is recorded as relative light units (RLU) as a measure of the amount of luciferase activity. Typically 0.05 ml of buffer lacking luciferase, or 0.05 ml of a BHK cell-lysate, gives a value of 150 to 200 RLU in this assay. Uninfected BHKICP6LucA6 cell lysates give 4-8×10⁻⁴ RLU per cell or 300-400 RLU for a 0.05 ml lysate of 2.5×10.sup. 5 cells. FIG. 4 shows a time course of luciferase activity after infection of BHKICP6LucA6 cells infected as described above. As can be seen, luciferase activity increases well above uninfected cell background by 4 hours after infection and by 24 hours the luciferase activity is 5000-fold above the uninfected cell background. The data illustrated in FIG. 4 represents 10³ infected cells and 2.5×10⁵ total cells in the assay; the calculated RLU/infected cell to RLU/uninfected cell ratio is at least 500,000.

EXAMPLE 8

This example illustrates the ability of the BHKICP6LucA6 cell line and the method of Example 7 to detect a single infectious HSV in an enzymatic luciferase assay on cell lysates.

BHKICP6LucA6 cells were cultured in 24 well dishes. The cells were inoculated with a solution of diluted HSV. Four dilutions were made with concentrations of virus (based on a predetermined titre done as described in Example 3) of 5 pfu/ml; 2.5 pfu/ml; 0.5 pfu/ml; and 0.025 pfu/ml. 0.2 ml of each of these diluted HSV solutions were then inoculated into 9 separate wells and 6 well were uninfected (i.e. 42 well total). Therefore 6 wells got no virus. 9 wells 1 pfu, 9 wells 0.5 pfu, 9 wells 0.1 pfu, and 9 wells 0.05 pfu. Since an HSV pfu is a discrete entity, these numbers actually represent a certain probability of each well getting infected or not and that probability can be calculated using a standard Poisson equation. The cells were then harvested for luciferase activity as described in Example 7. In parallel these same exact dilutions were inoculated onto BHK cells and microscopically observed daily for CPE for 7 days.

FIG. 5 shows the average luciferase activity as a measure of the amount of virus added. Although there is a trend toward increased activity with more virus it is not statistically significant. When the individual data points are analyzed (FIG. 6), however, it is clear than an individual pfu can be detected. The # expected equals the number of wells that should receive a PFU based on Poisson probability. The # CPE equals the number of wells in which CPE was seen on the BHK cells. The # Observed equals the number of wells in which the measured luciferase activity was above uninfected cells by an amount predicted to be present in a single infected cell. (This was determined by infecting 3 wells with 100 pfu and the RLU measured from those cells was averaged and divided by 100). There is clearly a good correlation between the Poisson predicted #of infected wells and the # CPE positive wells which shows that our virus titre is accurate. The good correlation between these numbers and the number of wells with higher luciferase activity than the uninfected cell background indicates that this method can detect a single infected cell and thus a single infectious herpes simplex virus.

EXAMPLE 9

This example illustrates the use of the BHKICP6LacZ-5 cell line and the method of this invention to detect HSV-infected cells (and thus infectious HSV in a specimen) by fluorescence microscopy. The advantages of this assay are that it is very rapid (4 hours), very simple to perform, and the cells remain viable, thus allowing the same cells to be analyzed repeatedly over time.

A monolayer of approximately 2×10⁵ BHKICP6LacZ-5 cells were grown in standard culture medium (MEM+10% fetal calf serum) on a commercially available tissue culture chambers/microscope slide device. The cells in individual chambers were inoculated with between 100 and 1000 pfu of HSV in 0.2 ml of medium, or mock infected with 0.2 ml of sterile medium, and then placed in a 37° C. incubator. In one hour intervals after infection the cells were processed in the following manner. The medium was aspirated and replaced with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing 4 mM FDG (fluorescein di-β-galactopyranoside, Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR; cat. no. F-1179). FDG is a fluorogenic β-galactosidase substrate. After one minute at 37° C. the PBS/FDG was aspirated and fresh culture medium was added at ambient temperature. The cells were then observed immediately under an inverted microscope with a fluorescent light source (Zeis Axiovert 35) using the appropriate filters for fluorescein green fluorescence.

Mock infected (i.e. uninfected) cells displayed no visible fluorescence. Infected cells showed no fluorescence at 1 hour and 2 hours after infection. At 3 hours after infection, however, individual cells displayed a low level of fluorescence which increased to a dramatic level of fluorescence at 4 hours after infection. The number of fluorescence positive cells correlated with the number of pfu used in the infection. The fluorescence faded to a faint level over 30 minutes. The cells were placed back in a 37° C. incubator and were reassayed in exactly the same manner at 6, 12, and 16 hours after infection. The same number of fluorescence positive cells were seen at each time point from the 4 to 16 hours. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An in vitro diagnostic method to detect infectious herpes virus in a specimen, said method comprising the steps of:providing a genetically engineered cell line stably transformed with a sequence of DNA from a herpes virus family member wherein said herpes virus family member is Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 and said sequence of DNA is comprised of a promoter from UL39 gene wherein said promoter has properties of inducibility by transactivators of Hemes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, specificity for transactivators of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, and non-constitutive expression, operably linked to a reporter gene, the expression of the reporter gene being dependent upon and quantitatively proportional to the presence of the herpes virus; inoculating the cell line with a specimen suspected of containing a herpes virus; allowing a period of time for the herpes virus infectious cycle to proceed; and detecting and quantifying the number of herpes virus-infected cells to determine the number of infectious herpes virus virions in said specimen.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the DNA sequence stably transformed into said cell line comprises the E. coli lacZ gent immediately 3' to said promoter.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said reporter gene encodes an enzyme capable of being detected by a colorimetric, fluorimetric or luminometric assay.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said reporter gene encodes β-galactosidase or luciferase.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein said detection step involves detecting β-galactosidase by histochemical/light microscopy.
 6. The method of claim 4 wherein said detection step involves detecting β-galactosidase using a fluorogenic substrate.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein said fluorogenic derivative is detected by fluorescence microscopy.
 8. The method of claim 6 wherein the amount of said fluorescence is determined by quantitative fluorimetry.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the DNA sequence stably transformed into said cell comprises a luciferase gene immediately 3' to said promoter.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein said detection step involves detecting the presence of luciferase by luminometry.
 11. A genetically engineered cell line stably transformed with a sequence of DNA from a herpes virus family member wherein said herpes virus family member is Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 and said sequence of DNA is comprised of a promoter from a UL39 gene wherein said promoter has properties of inducibility by transactivators of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, specificity for transactivators of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, and non-constitutive expression, operably linked to a reporter gene, the expression of the reporter gene being dependent upon and quantitatively proportional to the presence of the herpes virus.
 12. The cell line of claim 11 wherein said DNA sequence stably transformed into said cell line comprises an E. coli lacZ gene immediately 3' to said promoter.
 13. The cell line of claim 11 wherein said reporter gene encodes an enzyme capable of being detected by a colorimetric, fluorimetric or luminometric assay.
 14. The cell line of claim 11 wherein said DNA sequence stably transformed into said cell line comprises a firefly luciferase gene immediately 3' to said promoter.
 15. The cell line of claim 13 wherein said reporter gene encodes β-galactosidase or luciferase.
 16. A cell line identified as BHKICP6LacZ cells.
 17. A cell line identified as BHKICP6LucA cells.
 18. A kit for assaying for the presence of infectious herpes virus in a specimen, said kit comprising:a supply of genetically engineered mammalian cells susceptible to infection by herpes virus, the cells comprising a stably transformed sequence of DNA from a herpes virus family member wherein said herpes virus family member is Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 and said sequence of DNA is comprised of a promoter from a UL39 gent wherein said promoter has properties of inducibility by transactivators of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, specificity for transactivators of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2, and non-constitutive expression, and a reporter gene, the expression of said reporter gene being dependent upon and quantitatively proportional to the presence of herpes virus in the specimen; and a supply of reagents to detect the expression of said reporter gene.
 19. The kit of claim 18 wherein the DNA sequence stably transformed into said cells comprises an E. coli IacZ gene immediately 3' to said promoter.
 20. The kit of claim 18 wherein the DNA sequence stably transformed into said cells comprises a luciferase gene immediately 3' to said promoter.
 21. The kit of claim 18 wherein said reporter gene is β-galactosidase.
 22. The kit of claim 21 wherein said reagents include a 5-bromo-4-chloro-3 indolyl-β-D-galactopyranoside solution.
 23. The kit of claim 21 wherein said reagents include O-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside.
 24. The kit of claim 21 wherein said reagents include fluorescein di-β-D-galactopyranoside.
 25. The kit of claim 18 wherein said reporter gene is luciferase.
 26. The kit of claim 25 wherein said reagents include luciferin.
 27. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the genetically engineered cell line is BHKICP6LacZ.
 28. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the genetically engineered cell line is BHKICP6LucA.
 29. The kit as set forth in claim 18 wherein the genetically engineered mammalian cells are BHKICP6LacZ.
 30. The kit as set forth in claim 18 wherein the genetically engineered mammalian cells are BHKICP6LucA.
 31. The cell line of claim 11 wherein said cell line is a susceptible mammalian cell line.
 32. The cell line of claim 31 wherein said cell line is from baby hamster kidney cells. 